Despite the huge human and economic cost of  COVID-19, over two years of negotiations and substantial diplomatic pressure, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) failed to reach consensus on a pandemic agreement by Friday (10 May), the last scheduled day of negotiations before the upcoming  77th World Health Assembly (WHA). But the […] Continue reading ->
Despite much lost sleep for members of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) this week, it is impossible for consensus on a pandemic agreement to be reached by the end of Friday (10 May), the last day of this final round of negotiations. Various negotiators Health Policy Watch that they did not […] Continue reading ->
“Get this done” – and if you disagree, don’t block consensus, was the heartfelt plea made by World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyessus to member states negotiating a pandemic agreement on Friday (3 May). Tedros was addressing the ‘stocktake’ in the middle of the final 10-day meeting of the intergovernmental negotiating body […] Continue reading ->
Most H5N1 infections spreading through US dairy cattle and other animal populations are likely going undetected despite stepped up surveillance by the US Department of Agriculture, Michael Osterholm, director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), told Health Policy Watch on Wednesday. Osterholm spoke as a growing number of infectious experts were […] Continue reading ->
African leaders want “explicit commitments” to debt relief and debt restructuring mechanisms, including debt swaps to support country-level pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR) in the pandemic agreement. This is one of the continent’s demands, made on the eve of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic agreement talks, following a high-level meeting of African health […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic agreement negotiations begin their final two-week stretch on Monday (28 April) amid a gamble with the process, a show of unity from African member states – and more suggestions for the draft text. This final intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) meeting will focus on finding “common ground and consensus”, according […] Continue reading ->
“This is probably the most hopeful time in my professional life and the scariest time,” Dr Mike Ryan, the World Health Organization (WHO) Deputy Director General and head of Health Emergencies, told a high-level Geneva audience on Wednesday. “Hopeful” because there is the possibility of reaching a global agreement on how to tackle future pandemics […] Continue reading ->
The fractious pandemic agreement talks – supposed to end with an agreement on Thursday (28 March) – have limped into extra time, with World Health Organization (WHO) member states resolving to hold an additional intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) meeting from 29 April to 10 May. The World Health Assembly (WHA), which begins on 27 May, […] Continue reading ->